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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23925589">0. The Fool</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PostcardsfromTheoryland/pseuds/PostcardsfromTheoryland'>PostcardsfromTheoryland</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>April Tarot Card Prompts [29]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Accidental Baby Acquisition, Fantastic Racism, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Post-Canon, accidental adoption</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:21:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,714</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23925589</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PostcardsfromTheoryland/pseuds/PostcardsfromTheoryland</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Fool: Innocence, new beginnings, freedom</p>
<p>Keith picks up a passenger on his way to some diplomatic talks.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith (Voltron) &amp; Original Child Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>April Tarot Card Prompts [29]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1686346</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>128</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>0. The Fool</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is technically the sequel to the Five of Swords, but can be read alone</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Keith was, strictly speaking, not even allowed in this system, much less in the city, but what Kolivan didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Keith should be obeying orders but he needed...something. A stiff drink, a bar fight, a bank heist...he wasn’t picky.</p>
<p>He started with the drink, taking in the collection of lowlifes at the casino he’d chosen. His knife was at his hip and his wolf was at his feet and Keith wasn’t concerned about the people around him.</p>
<p>He was on his second drink when his eyes were drawn toward a large gathering a few tables away. Most of them were Galra, but there was a much smaller, brighter figure among them. Gold scales shimmering in the light, bright blue eyes almost like gemstones, thin and slight, with arms a bit shorter than a human’s would be and a tail curling behind her. She was, if Keith wasn’t mistaken, an Evalüir, but one that was pretty far from home. And very young; if Keith had to guess, she was probably around seven or eight.</p>
<p>And she was chained with a shackle around her left wrist to the big, brutish Galra next to her.</p>
<p>Said Galra was just finishing up a game of deps, a large entourage behind him; probably some kind of organized crime ring.</p>
<p>“Anyone else care to try their hand?” he shouted over the crowd, yanking the girl toward him. “I’ll let you borrow my Evalüir if you win!”</p>
<p>Keith wasn’t supposed to be here. He was supposed to be on aid missions. He shouldn’t get involved.</p>
<p>The Evalüir turned toward him, just a bit, and though she didn’t have pupils Keith could still tell she was looking directly at him. Her blank expression changed, just for a tick, into something desperate and pleading.</p>
<p>He’d been to Evae only once before, back in the Voltron days, and it had been an uncomfortable, creepy experience. Even Social-Butterfly Lance had said it was awful and he never wanted to go back. The Evalüir, Coran had explained, were empaths: they perceived all the emotions people around them felt but they felt none themselves. Something told him now that maybe that last part hadn’t quite been true.</p>
<p>Keith knocked back the rest of his drink and sauntered to the table, Kosmo a hulking presence at his heels.</p>
<p>“Deal me in.”</p>
<p>Granted, Keith was <em>shit</em> at deps. Krolia had tried to teach him while on the space whale, for lack of anything better to do, and he hadn’t understood it then and didn’t understand it now. Pidge was good, but only because she counted cards like a cheater and besides, Pidge wasn’t here.</p>
<p>He was going to lose, that much he knew already, but he wasn’t particularly concerned with playing fair given that his opponent had what Keith strongly suspected was a slave.</p>
<p>He was just about to lose his fourth hand when the bomb he’d planted at the bar exploded. Not enough to do real damage, but enough to cause a commotion, and by the time the Galra across from him was looking up in panic, Keith was already out of his seat, sword in hand, and slicing through the chain like butter. He grabbed the Evalüir to his side and tangled a hand in Kosmo’s fur; they blinked out of existence and reappeared in his ship, the <em>Denebola</em>.</p>
<p>“Good boy,” he praised; the larger the wolf got (and Keith <em>dearly</em> hoped he would stop growing eventually) the easier it was for him to teleport long distances.</p>
<p>He had no idea if that Galra crime ring had ships or not, but he figured it was better to get the hell out of Dodge while they could. He brought the Evalüir with him into the cockpit, running through the basic checks before pushing the thrusters to max and screaming out of the dock. Nothing appeared to be following him, but he engaged the warp drive once they got into open space and then felt like he could breathe a little bit.</p>
<p>"Ok. I think we've got enough space between us now,” he said, turning toward the girl and carefully using his knife to pry the shackle off her wrist. “I'm Keith. What's your name?"</p>
<p>A sniffle, then, "Mervus."</p>
<p>"It’s very nice to meet you, Mervus. You're safe here, I'm not going to hurt you."</p>
<p>"I know." Right, duh. She was an Evalüir. She could sense his emotions. “That was cheating.”</p>
<p>“Yep,” Keith agreed. “But I’m guessing you don’t care all that much?”</p>
<p>“Treptor made me tell him what everyone was feeling. You wouldn’t have been able to beat him anyways.”</p>
<p>“How did you get out here, Mervus?”</p>
<p>“I don’t remember much,” she admitted, though she was beginning to get agitated, her hands opening and closing in fists and her tail lashing angrily behind her. “I woke up really early one morning and there were strangers taking me on board their ship. Zytrojaens,” she said and Keith barely kept himself from growling out loud. The Zytrojaens were the scum of the universe, slavers who would do anything to make a few GAC. “Treptor took me. I think it was about five phoebs ago. He kept offering me to people if they won games against him, but no one ever did.”</p>
<p>“He can’t get to you any more,” Keith promised. “No one can. I won’t let them.”</p>
<p>The dress she was wearing (more like a square piece of fabric with neck and arm holes) was dingy and filthy. He remembered Coran telling them that the Evalüir were fastidious about their hygiene. She’d probably feel a lot better if she could get clean.</p>
<p>Keith led her into the ship’s bathroom, feeling awkward about helping a strange child that he’d met less than an hour ago bathe, but once he’d filled the tub with warm water, Mervus had ripped off the dress and climbed into the bath on her own, already reaching for Keith’s soaps.</p>
<p>“You got this?” he asked.</p>
<p>“I am not a baby, Keith,” she said, managing to sound just the tiniest bit offended.</p>
<p>“Ok, ok, sorry I implied otherwise,” he laughed. “I’ll get you something to wear, ok?” Keith obviously wasn’t in the habit of stocking his closet with clothing for young alien girls, but he supposed one of his old t-shirts would make a passable dress for now. He picked up some water and goo from the kitchen on his way back. It wasn’t the most appealing to Keith, but he had no idea what the Evalüir ate and food goo seemed to be a sort of universal constant.</p>
<p>Once she was clean, clothed, and fed, Keith figured he might as well let her sleep. The <em>Denebola</em> had been designed to accommodate more than just a single pilot so there were several, thankfully furnished, rooms to spare. He led her into the one closest to his own, wanting her to be nearby just in case. She looked tiny and frail and scared, alone in the bed and swimming in Keith’s t-shirt until Kosmo hopped up, curling tightly around her.</p>
<p>"You're safe with him,” Keith said. “He makes a really good pillow and he's a good protector. I'd know. Sleep well and come find me if you need anything, ok?"</p>
<p>“Keith?” she asked as he was leaving the room. “Can I go home?”</p>
<p>“Of course,” he said. “I’ve already set our flight path for Evae.”</p>
<p>In four days he was supposed to attend peace talks with the Jorevn, and Evae was a seven-day flight in the opposite direction, but he could afford to go off course for this. God knew he couldn't just tell this little girl she had to wait to go home for him to attend some stuffy meetings. Kolivan would probably be pissy about it, but one look at Mervus's face and he'd cave, just like Keith had.</p>
<p>Keith poked his head in the room later as he was getting ready to turn in and saw her asleep, curled up under a fluffy tail. Kosmo gave him a somber look and Keith left the door open just a bit so it would be easier to hear if she called out during the night. He sent Kolivan a message and a picture of Mervus asleep with Kosmo; Kolivan replied with a frowny face (and damn Lance for teaching Kolivan and Krolia about emojis) and a “you owe me.”</p>
<p>They'd reach Evae in about a week; he missed wormholes, sometimes, but there was also something nice about seeing the universe pass by as they traveled normally. He thought, briefly, of stopping by Hunk’s most recent station; it would barely be an hour out of their way, and he was sure Hunk would shower Mervus with good food and affection.</p>
<p>But he also hadn’t seen Hunk, or any of the other paladins, in years. Things had somehow gotten tense between all of them, and four yearly “former paladins+Coran” meetups in a row Keith had been scheduled for an aid mission and had to send his regrets.</p>
<p>They hadn’t invited him to last year’s paladin meeting. The only reason he even knew Hunk was out here was that Kolivan kept him updated of any potential allies’ locations.</p>
<p>So, no. Better not to. Mervus would pick up the tension and the negativity, and she didn’t need any of that. Keith wasn’t as good as Hunk, but he could cook well enough. Especially for a kid, he reasoned, assuming simple palettes were a norm across children regardless of species. And in three days they’d pass by a swap moon anyways, and he could pick up some extra stuff then if she didn’t like anything he had on the ship.</p><hr/>
<p>Mervus slept for most of the first two days of the trip. Keith had panicked, maybe just a bit, because Mervus had seemed healthy to him but what if she wasn’t? What if there was some horrible illness common to Evalüir or she was hurt and Keith couldn’t tell?</p>
<p>So he’d woken up her for a video call with Chroptka. They were a relatively new member of the Blade, half-Galra and half-Olkari and wicked smart and an excellent doctor. Chroptka had examined Mervus as well as they could through a computer screen, Mervus drooping at his side and Keith trying valiantly not to panic in case he made Mervus pick up on it and panic, too, and then he had to do a tiny blood draw and send the data back to them.</p>
<p>“She’s fine,” Chroptka assured him with a hint of a smirk. “She is malnourished and slightly dehydrated, and has a somewhat concerning vrezian deficiency, but that is easily remedied.” </p>
<p>“But then why is she sleeping so much?”</p>
<p>“Because,” they said with over-exaggerated patience, “she is tired. Several phoebs in cruel servitude to an abusive master does not make for a good, restful environment. Now she is safe, and she trusts you to protect her, so she sleeps.”</p>
<p>“Oh.” It was an odd feeling, that. To be relied on completely like that.</p>
<p>“She is also, I believe you would say, cold-blooded? Ensure she stays warm, especially while she is resting. Her dietary needs are much like your own, so there should be no concern there as long as you make sure she gets the vrezian I mentioned, either in food and drink or in a supplement. Is there anything else, Vice-Lieutenant?”</p>
<p>“She’s fine?” Keith checked again.</p>
<p>“She is fine, though you may call me again if you have need of me.”</p>
<p>“Thanks,” he said as the call disconnected. As he tucked Mervus back into bed, Kosmo began doing that huff he'd decided meant the wolf was laughing at him. “I’m suddenly in charge of a small child, leave me alone.”</p><hr/>
<p>The morning of the third day, he’d gone to check on her and found her awake but with her face buried in Kosmo’s ruff, shoulders shaking and breathing unevenly.</p>
<p>“Mervus? What’s wrong, are you alright?”</p>
<p>“I shouldn’t,” she said, and Keith could tell she was trying very hard not to cry. “We don’t have tears. It isn’t right.”</p>
<p>“You just went through a horrible thing, okay?” he said, sitting down on the bed with her and resting a hand on her back. “We have a name for it, where I come from, but your mind is trying to sort everything out, trying to keep you safe and understand what’s just happened. It’s okay to be scared, or sad, or angry, or whatever else you’re feeling right now.“ They were the same words Krolia had said to him, upon seeing memory after memory on the space whale.</p>
<p>“The Evalüir aren’t supposed to,” Mervus said miserably.</p>
<p>“But you do,” Keith countered. “And there’s nothing wrong with it, okay?”</p>
<p>He’d cajoled her out of bed with the promise of a shopping trip. It felt a little silly, shopping for her when she would be home in just a few days, but at the same token, the swap moon was on their way, and Keith had plenty of money saved up, and Mervus deserved a few things to distract her from everything now that she seemed more awake. So they got her several new dresses, and some of the vrezian supplements Chroptka had suggested. He’d caught her staring longingly at a large stuffed lion and added that to their purchases as well, along with a pack of crayons, some coloring books, some age-appropriate puzzles, and a giant collection of the alien equivalent of playdoh.</p>
<p>Keith looked at the accumulation of playthings on the kitchen table as he made mac and cheese for dinner that night (or at least, as close as he could get to mac and cheese while in space) and realized what a stark change had occurred, seemingly overnight. It was like Mervus had filled some kind of slot in Keith’s life that he didn’t know was empty.</p>
<p>“Look,” she giggled, and Keith turned to see Kosmo’s fur slathered in purple playdoh. He felt the tiniest bit bad, but the wolf was taking it in stride, lying on the floor and docilely allowing Mervus to put a dot of orange on his snout.</p>
<p>“He looks beautiful,” Keith smiled.</p>
<p>He already knew he was going to miss her.</p><hr/>
<p>Keith was milliseconds from sleep on the fifth night when a small hand clasped his wrist, and he shot up with a gasp. Mervus was at the side of the bed, standing on her tiptoes to reach him.</p>
<p>“Mervus?” he asked blearily, voice rough from almost-sleep.</p>
<p>“You would have had a bad dream,” she said. “I could feel it starting. You shouldn’t hide.”</p>
<p>“Hide?”</p>
<p>“The bad dreams are worse if you hide. It’s okay to be scared and sad,” she said, repeating his own words, before she smiled timidly at him, patted his hand, and walked out of the room.</p>
<p>Keith laid awake for several hours after that.</p><hr/>
<p>He’d radioed ahead to the Evalüir council to let them know of their approach, and had to admit he was disappointed when they were only greeted with a single guide. Mervus’s mother was a member of the council; she should be here waiting for her daughter’s return.</p>
<p>But apparently she was busy, so their guide led them through the capitol city; Mervus reached up to grab one hand in Keith's and tangled her other hand in Kosmo’s fur, and Keith could feel her shaking a little.</p>
<p>The capitol was just as eerily quiet as Keith remembered it, Evalüir going silently about their business, some of them occasionally turning toward Keith and Mervus with blank expressions.</p>
<p>They were admitted into the city hall without fanfare and led up to what seemed to be a secretary.</p>
<p>"My name is Keith, formerly the Black Paladin of Voltron and now Vice-Lieutenant of the Blade of Marmora,” he said. “I'd like an audience with the council; I'm here to return Sravur’s daughter Mervus to her." The secretary waved them up the stairs, where a single Evalüir waited for them.</p>
<p>"Greetings, Blade.”</p>
<p>“Sravur?” Keith asked, though by the way Mervus almost tugged out of his hand he had to assume he was correct.</p>
<p>“I am she. I admit to being perplexed by your message.”</p>
<p>“Perplexed?” Keith repeated. What was there to understand? Her daughter had been kidnapped and Keith was bringing her home. Sravur should be overjoyed.</p>
<p>“I am afraid there has been a misunderstanding. I offered Mervus to the Zytrojaens when they crossed our system.”</p>
<p>"You...what? What does that even mean? Was it part of some alliance? If you’d needed aid you could have contacted the Blade, we would have helped you.”</p>
<p>“The transaction with the Zytrojaens was financial and cultural in nature. Mervus is one of the Isijur. The Defective. She exhibits emotions and is hence unwelcome here.”</p>
<p>Keith thought he might throw up. "Let me get this straight. You sold off your own daughter because she...feels things?"</p>
<p>"Yes," Sravur replied. As if it could be as simple as that. Mervus's hand tightened its grip on his, and he could hear her breathing start to get uneven, like she was trying desperately not to cry.</p>
<p>“She’s your daughter,” Keith shouted, voice dropping into a growl in rage. “Does that mean <em>nothing</em> to you?”</p>
<p>“Nothing means anything to me. Not your anger, nor her sadness. The true Evalüir are on a higher plane than those who still retain their emotions.”</p>
<p>And Keith itched to draw his knife and threaten her, but what good would it do? The best case scenario was that he got Sravur to take Mervus back by force and Mervus spent the rest of her life knowing that she was unwanted here.</p>
<p>"Well thanks for clearing that up, and I hope you and everyone on your miserable planet rots in hell. Come on, Mervus, we're leaving."</p>
<p>Mervus was a trooper; she’d held it together until they got out of the city hall building but then began crying in earnest and Keith didn’t hesitate to swing her into his arms, Kosmo flashing them back into the <em>Denebola</em> so they could avoid having to walk through the city. Keith took Mervus into the cockpit with him, letting her sit on his lap while he got as much distance between them and Evae as he could.</p>
<p>It was like being told that she had emotions had let her fully experience them, and she curled up in his arms and shook and cried for hours. Keith tried to keep a level head - he didn’t want any of his emotions getting to her like a feedback loop - but it was hard when he could tell she was falling apart.</p>
<p>When she finally quieted down, he made her drink a juice pouch and piloted them to the prettiest part of the nearby system he could think of, a planet called Dest_^ with delicate pink rings and an asteroid belt that glittered silver.</p>
<p>"There are some, some orphanages,” Keith began, “places where people take care of children that have lost their families." But he was cringing even as he said it, because as much as he'd made it his mission to keep tabs on all those places there were still gaps in the system, still shitty things happening to kids in Mervus's position.</p>
<p>"Wanna stay with you," she managed stuffily and...yeah. Ok. This was ok. Keith was totally, completely ready to be a father. Yep. Very ready.</p>
<p>It wasn't as if he'd never thought about it. Even as a kid, he'd imagined somehow growing up and getting out of the foster system and adopting a bunch of kids like him. He'd been considering talking to Krolia about going to one of the orphanages on the refugee planetes. But this was...sudden. And important.</p>
<p>“You know I don’t have any idea what I’m doing, right?” he admitted. “Are you sure about this?”</p>
<p>“You’re like me,” she said. “You’re alone, and lonely, and people that you trusted hurt you and left. You understand. You help people.”</p>
<p>And that was...a lot. He felt exposed, knowing Mervus had somehow gleaned all of that from his emotions within just the past week, but she’d also clearly been thinking about this. And if she trusted him, then maybe Keith could trust himself.</p>
<p>“Ok.”</p>
<p>She was clearly exhausted and worn out, so he tried to put her to bed. But even with Kosmo acting as a pillow, Mervus wasn’t having it, latching onto Keith and Keith didn’t have the heart to put her down. So he paced, up and down the corridors of the ship, until she had dropped to sleep, head on his shoulder.</p>
<p>Keith was too keyed up to sleep himself, still nervous about the giant life change he’d taken on and fucking <em>furious</em> at the Evalüir, so he figured he might as well take this time to make a call.</p>
<p>"Hey,..mom,” he whispered, mindful of the sleeping kid in his arms.</p>
<p>"What did you do?"</p>
<p>"Nothing! Why do you think I did anything?"</p>
<p>“You said you were returning the Evalüir child this afternoon and would rendezvous with Kolivan and me at Daibazaal,” Krolia hissed at him. “What happened?”</p>
<p>“I just figured I should tell you that you're a grandmother now?” Keith shrugged. “Turns out Mervus wasn't captured, she was sold. Her mother sold her and I told her to go fuck herself and Mervus said she wanted to stay with me instead of going to one of the orphanages so um, I'm a dad now I guess?”</p>
<p>Krolia continued to stare at him, to the point where Keith wondered if their connection had frozen.</p>
<p>“Anyway, how are you?” he asked.</p>
<p>"What are your coordinates?” she finally said. “Change of plans, we’ll come to you."</p>
<p>"I'm already en route to Daibazaal, you don't have to-"</p>
<p>"I am coming to meet my new family member," she said with a tone that brooked no arguments. “Daibazaal can wait.”</p>
<p>"Ok. That’s, uh, probably good actually because I really don’t have a clue how to be a parent.”</p>
<p>“Keith. You will be fine. I need to debrief Kolivan, but I’ll be there soon. I’m proud of you,” she smiled as the connection cut.</p>
<p>And Keith stared out the window, Kosmo curled at his feet, Mervus still and quiet in his arms, and tried to breathe.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The amazing <a href="https://thestarsofpines.tumblr.com/">TheStarsOfPines</a> has made <a href="https://thestarsofpines.tumblr.com/post/617609899041603584/soooo-theres-this-fic-0-the-fool-by">ART</a> of Mervus!!!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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